The Alipore court on Monday rejected Dr Pronab Dasgupta’s plea for interim bail in the AMRI case and remanded him in judicial custody till February 20.

Dasgupta, who had been in the Lalbazar lock-up since his arrest on January 27, was shifted to Alipore Central jail around 9pm on Monday.

The court also rejected the bail prayers of AMRI employees Preeta Banerjee and Sajid Hossain and remanded them in judicial custody for 14 days.

Tapen Roy Chowdhury, who was representing 67-year-old Dasgupta, drew a parallel between his client’s case and that of 91-year-old Mani Chhetri, the other doctor-director of AMRI Hospital to have been arrested for the December 9 fire that claimed 91 lives.

The Alipore court had on February 2 released Chhetri on interim bail on health grounds.

“Just like Mani Chhetri, Pronab Dasgupta is old and has been suffering from hypertension and serious heart ailments. He has been under medication for 20 years,” said Roy Chowdhury. “He underwent a total knee surgery in 2009 and needs an orthopaedic bed to sleep. Considering his health, the court should grant him interim bail.” The lawyer also presented a list of 16 patients who were supposed to be operated on by Dasgupta.

Public prosecutor Shakti Bhattacharya opposed the plea, saying Dasgupta had shown no sign of illness during his 11-day stay in police custody. “Besides, if he is so sick, how could he visit 20 nursing homes daily?”

After hearing both sides, the magistrate denied bail to Dasgupta.

The court accepted state counsel’s plea for a handwriting test for Preeta Banerjee and Sanjib Pal, another arrested AMRI official.